


Iatrophobia

by fairydustedtheory



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Doctor Stiles Stilinski, Everyone Is Alive, M/M, Single Parent Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23427544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairydustedtheory/pseuds/fairydustedtheory
Summary: Derek's daughter hates doctors
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 543





	Iatrophobia

**Author's Note:**

> do not repost anywhere, thanks
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://fairydustedtheory.tumblr.com/tagged/plot%20twist%20:%20i%20write)
> 
> Thank you for reading :)

"This kid is not normal" The woman doctor of whom Derek hadn't bothered remembering the name, said as she let go of the screaming and kicking toddler on her exam table. "Did she have any medical problem when she was a baby ?"

"No, she's a healthy child." Derek answered frowning. His dad instinct kicking in full gear. "She's just phobic, she hates doctors."

"Well, take my professional opinion here. You're a single parent and it's your first and only child. Take it from me, she just has a very bad temper and you're letting yourself be swallowed by her. That is not an acceptable behavior for a human child, nor would it be for a werewolf kid." The doctor said barely looking at them as Derek was putting the clothes back on his daughter.

Derek glared at the doctor. He knew his daughter. He knew she was human and he knew what human tantrum looked like. And this wasn't it. Sofia was a sweet little thing most days, except when it was time to go to the doctor, that's when she let her bad side show. Really she was just terrified, there was no reasoning her.

She hated doctors ever since that first month check up. Derek had brought Sofia in her car-seat to the pediatrician, and she had screamed the instant they had passed the door of the hospital and screamed even louder in the exam room and peed on the guy to show how disgusted she was with him and his profession.

Derek could relate. As a werewolf, he rarely had to go to the doctor himself. He despised the hospital and every other doctor's office he ever had the displeasure of stepping into.

He hated the smell of cleaning detergent and alcohol, the smell of disease, of germs on rotting flesh. He hated it with every fiber of his body.

So why would Sofia like it ?

Sofia was human but she was his. The whole nature against nurture debate. Maybe she hated the doctor's because she had half of Derek's genes, maybe she hated the doctor's because she could feel her dad hating it with all his might.

Derek slammed the door of that woman doctor on his way out. They would never come back here. Yet another doctor, they would never see again.

They were running out of options.

*-*-*

It wasn't easy, the life of a single parent.

Jennifer had been so adamant. As soon as they had started dating, she knew she would have his children. She said it so often, she had been the one to put that idea in Derek's head, as if it was something inevitable. She said Derek was the father of her children, she said he was the love of her life.

Derek was so love-starved at this point, somehow even through all the terrible fights and screaming matches and all the times she made him feel that he was not good enough, not right enough, that he had to disappear and be the perfect image of what she wanted him to be, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he had to be the father of her children.

Her I-love-yous, as meaningless as they were, were the only thing keeping him afloat sometimes. She was human, she was weaker than he was, yet she had a hold on him. Her words kept him in check until he wasn't even sure who he was anymore... except the future father of her children.

Child. Not children, not plural. Never ever would it be plural.

Once Sofia was born, it was a matter of weeks before Jennifer was out the door to never return. Who would have thought ? For all she wanted that child, she barely glanced at her.

Derek wondered about postpartum depression, wondered what he should have done differently. But Jennifer assured him as she signed off the child custody agreement that she was not depressed, she just had more important things in her life. Derek and Sofia, she barely thought about them at all.

"It's so much easier to close that door behind me" Jennifer had said.

Derek's brain was clearly not equipped to follow this train of thought. She had been the one who wanted this life, and Derek now had it. Without her in it. It was a strange concept, yet he would not go back. Not to her. Not to the life he had before if it meant not having Sofia.

Sofia was his.

*-*-*

Two year old humans, they get sick, a lot.

Sofia was sick, again. Derek sighed, brow furrowed, as a he looked at the frontal thermometer in his hands. The red light on the screen showed 104°. Sofia threw up her milk all over Derek's bed.

She couldn't sleep alone when she was ill. Derek couldn't sleep at all.

In the morning, he called the doctor's office. They had already visited this one. They had met one middle aged doctor who just had told Derek to not bother coming in with his first-time parent jitters every time the kid had a runny nose. He didn't want to see that guy again but they were several associates and maybe one of the other doctors would be acceptable.

The only available spot was with a certain Dr Stilinski.

"Dr Stilinski is the newest associate that none of the usual patients want to see yet." The secretary on the phone told him. Derek wondered how she still had her job. Surely that wasn't a very professional thing to say.

*-*-*

Derek braced himself as he walked in the waiting room, with a little body burning up in his arms.

His knees kept bouncing nervously as he waited for a unknown man to call out his name.

"Hale ?" a young doctor said, glancing around the room.

Derek swallowed his apprehension down and stood up to follow the man out into the hallway.

He could understand why the usual patients were not yet ready for this doctor. He looked young, maybe even too young to be practicing yet.

Derek cursed the uselessness of his werewolf senses in such a sterile setting. He didn't trust easily. He relied on his senses to check people's intentions but here, here he couldn't smell anything. The man walking a step before him, only smelled of detergent and hand sanitizer, just like the rest of the building. All that with a mix of disease.

Dr Stilinski closed the door behind them and walked around his desk to sit down. "So, what brings you two today ?"

"My daughter is sick." Derek stated, a pained look on his face. He was pained for his daughter but mostly he was pained to be here.

"Okay, let me check." Dr Stilinski said quickly before typing on his computer. "Hale. Sofia. Yes I have a file. You came once to see Dr Ravier. It was a few months ago already... I'll have to update everything, I'm sure she has grown since then." He said with a smile.

Derek just stared at the man. His heartbeat didn't jump with malice when he saw the file or when he looked at them. He seemed genuine enough.

Dr Stilinski stood up and gestured to the exam table on the side and brightly said, "Let's get to it !"

Derek followed and he could feel Lucy starting to shake against his chest. "It's alright baby girl." he softly whispered.

"Is something the matter ?" Dr Stilinski asked, cocking his head to the side. "I can't be that scary."

"She doesn't like doctors." Derek said as he forced Sofia to let go of him and sit on the exam table.

She started bawling. This was the moment Derek always felt the most inadequate. All the doctors always judged him more or less silently, more often than not very outwardly and made him feel how terrible of a job he was doing as a father.

"Oh right, I can understand that" Dr Stilinski said gently before taking a tongue depressor from the counter behind him and coming back to face Sofia. "Could you open up for me, please ?"

As expected, Sofia started screaming and writhing on the table. She tried everything she could do to escape him. Derek tried to keep her still but she still shook her head from side to side, screaming louder than before.

  
  


Dr Stilinski started screaming too then. Derek startled, turning around to stare directly at him. He was pretend screaming and laughing at the same time. His brow furrowing in confusion, Derek was absolutely stunned by the scene in front of him.

"Scream at me ! Come on !" Dr Stilinski cheered. "I'm the bad guy, here ! Scream _at_ me, show me your terrifying mouth ! Good !"

It was working, Sofia was clearly screaming at the doctor now, instead of at the world in her awfully distressed sort of way which always had Derek's heart break in a thousand pieces.

"Look at your teeth, they're all out, really impressive ! Open a little bit more so I can see your throat ? I bet you can howl as loud as your dad ! Can you show me ?" Dr Stilinski continued, a note of approval in his voice that had Derek swallow hard against his own tightening throat.

  
  


This was the first time a medical practitioner didn't seem to condemn him. They tried to hide it, they would play it on the single parent card but it was clear there was a prejudice against a werewolf, a male werewolf at that, raising a human girl. Derek could sense the distrust even without his sense of smell.

But not here.

  
  


"Okay, so what we have here is a simple rhino-pharyngitis." Dr Stilinski concluded after checking Sofia's ears as well as he could manage and confirming that they were all clear.

"Just a cold then ?" Derek replied, he knew the answer but still phrased it as a question.

"Don't sound so disappointed." Dr Stilinski said, a smile tugging at his lips. He walked back to his desk. Sofia finally stopped crying as he was stepping out of her space. "Do you have saline drops and everything you need for her fever at home ?"

"Yeah" Derek said.

"Alright, so we're all set. I'm not going to bother her with weighing. I trust you'll do this calmly at home without me there to, you know." The young doctor gestured at the general direction of the exam area.

"Yeah." Derek said again.

"Don't hesitate to come back, call me if her fever is still going in three days." He said, slouching back into his desk chair and making it roll from side to side. "But, I'm sure everything will be alright."

  
  


Derek was about to thank him and say goodbye when he blurted out. "Can you cure a doctor phobia ?"

  
  


"Ah, the question of the century !" Dr Stilinski's lips twitched up into an amused smile. "Iatrophobia. I can't promise a magic cure, but I see no reason we couldn't make it better. You just need a very nice doctor, which I am." He couldn't help but preen a little bit as he admitted that. Derek was staring straight into the younger man's eyes, until he glanced down to the little body in Derek's arms. "Huh, Sofia ? What do you think ?"

Sofia sniffled in response.

  
  


Dr Stilinski was leading them back to the hallway. They shook hands. Derek really wished he could smell something other than sanitizer because he had a hard time figuring out the man in front of him. His heartbeat had been unwavering the whole time and that alone showed a strength of character Derek could appreciate. But that wasn't a lot to go on.

  
  


"What did you think, Sofia ?" Derek whispered at his daughter as they walked out of the office. "Do you think we finally found an acceptable family doctor ?"

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


They only went to the doctors a couple of times before Sofia started going to preschool. Derek wasn't so sure her phobia was getting better. Dr Stilinski still tried his best though and that more than any other practitioner they had met until then. Derek respected the efforts.

He could not get out of there fast enough though. Derek still hated the whole experience and couldn't really figure out why Dr Stilinski's heart was not always as steady as it had been that first time and why his cheeks were a little too rosy sometimes. Maybe he was getting sick too.. maybe he was catching all of these germs. Germs loved their human hosts. Germs would probably love a Stilinski host.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


Preschool was a new rhythm in Derek's and Sofia's lives. Sofia was finally around other humans. It was good for her, Derek knew. It was a little heartbreaking to leave her there for hours on end. He was so used to having her around, clinging to his legs, demanding attention.

Derek walked her there every morning and went to get her at noon, they would then spent most of the afternoon cuddling and napping together. He needed her to smell like him again.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


It was one morning, like any other, he was helping her take off her jacket and put it next to her backpack in the hallway near her classroom when he heard a somewhat familiar voice say, “Hello.”

  
  


Derek startled and looked up to the dark silhouette of a man. His eyes slowly got used to the morning sunlight flowing through the roof window. The man a couple of feet away was delineated by the sun. The whole scene was a Renaissance painting. Derek blinked.

  
  


"Hello," he replied automatically. The figure left with a little girl towards the play room at the end of the hallway. "Who was that ?" Derek turned to Sofia in a whisper.

"That was Doctor !" She smiled.

  
  


She actually smiled, smiled while talking about a doctor. Derek would have needed to sit down if he wasn't already a knee to the ground. And Derek be damned because he couldn't smell Doctor Stilinski in the mix of human children and the scent of paint and crayons.

Derek glanced at the sticker collage with the name of the little girl above the bright colored wall mounted coat hanger. He squinted at the name, Rosie McCall. She was in Sofia's class.

  
  


He wanted to forget about the whole thing honestly. A doctor was supposed to stay a doctor. Derek never wanted to meet his doctor in any other social event.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


Derek wasn't so lucky as Dr Stilinski was apparently very close to that little McCall girl and was the one to drop her off most days.

Although they didn't meet again per se, Derek could see his silhouette in corners of hallways, in the parking lot, awkwardly stepping into an old Jeep.

Just there.

Always.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


"I met your doctor today !" Talia said excitedly to her son one evening. "My friend, you know Marybeth ? She was coughing and was in an overall pretty bad shape and I called the doctor's office. He was the only one available on short notice !"

She looked very pleased by that statement.

  
  


"Okay." Derek frowned. His mother had made all the journey from the preserve out of town, where his childhood home was, to his small apartment in town just to share this fun fact. Knowing her, she had something in mind.

"Well, it turned out to be bronchitis. Thank you for asking. Dr Stilinski prescribed antibiotics." She continued, unbothered by her son's lack of enthusiasm.

"Why are you telling me this ?" Derek shot back, quirking an eyebrow at her, clearly unimpressed with the whole conversation. "I mean, good for Marybeth, I guess ? I know she's a good friend of yours..."

"He recognized me !" She said excitedly.

"I thought you said you hadn't met him before."

"I hadn't. He recognized me from you ! He had no way of knowing I was your mother and yet as I was about to leave with Marybeth, you should have seen his smile when he realized !" There was something to be said about Talia's smile then too.

"I guess he likes Sofia well enough. She's a pretty memorable patient, what with all the screaming and crying." Derek palmed the back of his neck nervously.

"No, Derek. I mentioned Sofia but he mentioned _you_. He said we look alike." She said proudly.

Derek rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Because we do, mom. You gave me all your genes. I had no choice in the matter."

"Well, I guess, you have an answer to everything. All I'm saying is he looked at you enough to recognize your mother, when neither you nor I are technically his patients. Only Sofia is."

"Okay." Derek blinked at her for a moment, uncomprehending.

"His smile was _blinding_ , Derek."

"Okay, mom." Derek repeated, before turning a little bit too red to be his natural shade of color. He was done with this conversation. "Are you here just for that or do you actually want to spend some time with your granddaughter ?"

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


Derek was in the hallway of the preschool about to leave when Mrs Fray, Sofia's teacher, called out to him.

"Derek, are you free ? We need one more strong man to lift the benches to prepare for the Christmas show !" She asked, gesturing to the play room where the small representation was supposed to take place later that day.

Derek just nodded and followed her.

"Alright, so no offense Derek, but can you do the heavy lifting, while Mieczyslaw and I are doing the finishing touches on our North Pole setting ?"

"Werewolf at your service, no worries !" He replied with a tight smile.

"Please, never call me Mieczyslaw again. It's Stiles." a voice said from behind him. "Hi !" the man added stepping next to Derek.

Dr Stilinski.

“Hello,” Derek replied, jaw clenched. He broke eye contact to stare at where the teacher was gesturing to the stack of benches on the side.

Mrs Fray headed Stiles to the other side of the room where Santa's wonderland was in need of a second coat of paint.

Derek stumbled a step back, because there it was Dr Stilinski – Stiles – and the scent Derek had wanted to know ever since their first meeting. Except it was not new at all. He had smelled it before in the hallways of the school, even on Sofia, on her jacket, on her backpack, even in her hair that one time she said the class had gone out to pick up pine cones for their Christmas ornament craft in the park near the school.

He eyed the other man suspiciously. He smelled strangely nervous.

Derek openly stared in his direction. Stiles seemed to feel his gaze and turned around quickly, dropping the paintbrush he had in his hand making a big splash at his feet.

With a loud yelp, the man's face turned bright red. He averted his eyes muttering a sorry. Seemingly embarrassed he went back to the task at hand. Derek had to force himself to focus on the benches again, his muscles flexing in the effort of picking a few at a time. He really wanted to get out of there quickly.

The whole play room reeked of Stiles.

  
  


"Thank you, gentlemen," Mrs Fray said when the room seemed decorated enough for her taste. "There aren't that many parents available to help this year. I'm thankful for the two of you."

"No problem," Stiles answered, absentmindedly running a hand through his hair.

Derek squinted his eyes. "You do that often ?"

"When I'm needed." Stiles shot back, shoving his hands into his pockets. Derek could feel Stiles’ eyes on him, intently staring before he excused himself and left.

Derek inhaled sharply and closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

Doctor Stilinski was a mystery.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


Derek saw him again that day, at the Christmas show.

Sofia was wearing a Santa hat, like all the other little kids in her class, and they were proudly dancing round in a circle to the air of _We Wish You a Merry Christmas._

Stiles was standing, his back against the wall. Derek could smell him, could even distinguish his heartbeat in the flood of other sounds in the room.

He frowned at himself and focused back on the show and sending all his good energy towards Sofia who was about to go meet the man in the Santa suit who was sitting in the wonderland Stiles had painted earlier. She hated strange men dressed as Santa. She didn't cry which was a victory in itself but she did glare at the man her best glare.

  
  


At the end of the distribution of presents, the parents were allowed to come pick their kids and school was out. Stiles came around with Rosie, the little girl from Sofia's class.

"When I look at Sofia I can't help but wonder how much wolf is in her." He smiled.

Derek's back straightened. "What ?"

"Have you seen the look she gave Santa ?" Stiles laughed.

  
  


Derek closed his eyes for a long second to keep himself from staring at Stiles’ mouth. Putting his hands on his hips, he tried to stop the sound of Stiles' laughter from travelling through his body.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


Sofia got a stomach flu during the Christmas holidays. Once again, they found themselves at the doctor's office. Miracle of miracles, Sofia was not crying at all. She let herself be examined by Dr Stilinski, which she somehow was now calling "my doctor" and talked about him at the most random times at home.

The world would not let Derek forget about this man, even his own daughter was in on this now.

  
  


Stiles used his most gentle touches to examine her, cooing to her, and softly brushing "her beautiful dark hair" to the side so he could slid his stethoscope on her back.

His eyes were on Derek though.

"Alright so it's a stomach bug, I'll give you something to prevent nausea if it doesn't pass quickly. She's not dehydrated right now so there's nothing too bad, except she is feeling miserable. So miserable that she's not even screaming at me today !" Stiles smiled at them. His expression softened a little when he looked at Derek. "You're probably feeling miserable too, aren't you ?"

"Me ?" Derek's lips turned down in a tight frown.

"All the vomiting and overall disgusting human smells and sounds that can come with stomach flu, that must not be easy on a werewolf, is it ?"

"Huh..." Derek replied unintelligibly. He swallowed loudly because in all truths yes he was absolutely horrified by everything going on. "I managed to go through the diaper stage so... I'll be alright with this virus."

"My virus is named Jacky !" Sofia said brightly.

Stiles' eyes were huge as bursted out laughing, so loud the sound echoed around the whole room.

"What ?" Derek couldn't keep the chuckle from escaping him either, it was either in response to Sofia's statement or to Stiles' laugh. He wasn't certain.

It was the first time she spoke the whole day except to come cuddle to Derek telling him about her throwing up on the carpet of the living room. And now she was smiling at her doctor, so proud of herself for making him laugh.

  
  


*-*-*

Sofia came home from school one day smelling of cherries and Stiles and happiness. Derek wanted to bury himself in her hair and keep that scent deep in his memory.

  
  


She told him about Mrs Fray taking the class out to pick cherries in the orchard near the Church. Dr Stilinski came to accompany them. Sofia was very happy and excited to tell him how well her doctor looked after her and picked her up so she could reach the cherries too, how he carefully cleaned her red juice stained hands under the cool water stream before going back to class.

  
  


Derek thought about cherries and Stiles for the rest of that week.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


"I saw Dr Stilinski today." Talia said and smiled at him over the brim of her coffee cup.

Derek feigned indifference and didn't look at her. "Yeah ? Marybeth giving trouble again ?"

"He asked me about you. How you were doing." She added.

  
  


Derek hadn't seen Stiles in a while. With the sunny days of spring upon them, Sofia was not getting sick as often. Derek was glad of that fact, he hoped she finally started building her immunities. It took a lot of work being human.

He hadn't seen Stiles, no, but he smelled him. He knew when Stiles had been around the school, he knew when Stiles had been stressed and he knew when he had been laughing. He could smell his laughter in the hallway sometimes. Those were the best days.

  
  


"He's a nice young man, that one." She continued, an small smirk curling on the corners of her lips, a mischievous glint shining in her eyes.

"Please, don't try to set him up with Cora." Derek rolled his eyes, his whole face wrinkling in horror. "It was such a mess last time you tried that."

Talia raised an eyebrow pointedly at her son. "Why ? Would that bother you ?"

"It would certainly bother Cora." Derek countered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Huh-huh," Talia seemed to agree.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


"Would you like to go out ? With me ?" Stiles blurted out one day, as they crossed path. Derek opening the glass door of the school while Stiles was walking out.

Derek looked up sharply, eyebrows shooting up, surprised. Stiles let out an embarrassed chuckle as he scratched his head.

"Shit, sorry," Stiles started again. "It's just your mother..."

Derek glared, "My mother ?" he cut off sharply.

"God, I'm going about this all wrong !" Stiles exclaimed, clearly losing the bit of confidence he had.

"What did my mother do exactly ?"

Stiles' hands were twitching, fighting the uneasy itch to mess with his hair again. "Nothing ! Just... that maybe... you weren't as straight as I assumed you were."

"That's all she said ?" Derek asked, putting his hands on both of Sofia's shoulders to anchor him.

"Yes, cross my heart" Stiles smiled, still staring at Derek. His heart was steady.

Derek really needed to go in, class was about to start. He gestured at Stiles to move out of the way and said, "Okay."

"Sorry," Stiles stepped aside. He looked distraught, like he had been punched in the gut. 

"Pick me up at 8." Derek said moving past him, before adding over his shoulder. "I'll ask _my mother_ to babysit."

Stiles stared blankly, clumsily rocking back on his heels, stunned.

  
  


The silence of the hallway was only cut off by a surprised chuckle from Stiles.

  
  


*-*-*

Derek really didn't know what he was doing. His mother would never let him live this down.

The dinner had been awkward as hell. Stiles had been babbling nonsense almost the entire time, reeking of nerves.

Derek hadn't been on a date in what seemed like forever, and even then he had barely dated anyone before Jennifer.

  
  


"Could you maybe try to be honest ?" Derek said warily, as they were walking back to Stiles' Jeep, after admittedly the most terrible date he could imagine. "Tell me what makes you so anxious..."

"Shit, of course you could tell..." Stiles sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Listen, we just wasted 40 minutes in there," Derek gestured to the dinner. "and I don't want to waste more time away from my daughter. So..."

Stiles bit down on his lips.

"It's just I don't know werewolves." he blurted out. "There's just my friend, Scott, Rosie's dad, he was bitten by a rogue alpha. He's my only in into the whole thing and really he doesn't know much of anything. He tried to keep his life just as it was before, except different somehow. I think he's a beta, but he doesn't have a pack so maybe he's an omega ? I really don't know _anything_. And that sucks, because I'm a doctor, I should know at least _some_ things. But I don't, because yes, we study werewolves briefly in medical school but all the manuals – Shit, I only know werewolves from manuals how crappy of me – all the manuals were written by straight white human dudes. I swear, I feel stupid because until your mother – she didn't even use words, but it looked so clear that I was mistaken – I thought werewolves were intrinsically heterosexual." Stiles was flailing his arms all over the place.

Derek could just stare confused and a little numb. "What ? Why would even think that ?"

"I don't know.. the animal part of it ? It'd seem counterproductive not to be ?" Stiles looked away and breathed for a second. "Your mother, she's the alpha, right ?"

"Yes." Derek frowned at the sudden change of subject.

"It's weird that I knew that, that I could feel that. When I'm not a wolf..." He swallowed hard. "And you, I can feel the wolf part of you too. It's not that it's scary, but it's, it's overwhelming. Because if you weren't a wolf..."

"You wouldn't be interested." Derek retorted, jaw clenched tight. 

"No ! No..." Stiles scratched his head, a crinkle on the forehead. "I wouldn't have waited that long to ask you out, straight or not, without a second thought for my probable broken heart..."

Derek breathed a little easier at the confession, before adding still frowning. "I'm not sure I follow..."

"I don't know anything - about the politics of it all" Stiles admitted, the words getting caught in his throat. "of born wolves."

"The politics ?"

"I'm sure there are rules, pack dynamics, courtship ?" Stiles swallowed hard, trying to fight the distressed tone of his voice.

"Courtship ? Stiles..." Derek shook his head slowly.

"What about the mate thing ? Aren't wolves mating for life ? Was Sofia's mother your mate ?"

Derek sighed loudly, pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead. This was a little heavy for a first date. "Let's sit down."

He didn't wait for Stiles to agree and plopped himself on the grass on the side of the sidewalk. Stiles followed the movement but laid his all body down, raising his arms under his head.

"I understand why you were freaking out now." Derek started playing with his hands, not quite cracking his knuckles but almost. He leaned down to lie next to Stiles and look at the night sky. Stars not quite visible with the light pollution of the town.

"There's no courtship." Derek said after a moment of silence. "It doesn't work any differently than humans. We date."

Stiles hummed in response.

"As for the mate thing..." Derek continued. He could see Stiles move from the corner of his eye, the younger man was looking at him now but he didn't meet his gaze.

"There's no such thing, it's not a magic bond like the rumor says." Derek focused on the noises of the streets at night, on Stiles' heartbeat next to him as he spoke slowly, "But, born wolves, we're, my sister would say, serial monogamists. It means we cannot do things casually. We give our whole heart to the person we're with. It's not the same for humans... Humans, they can cheat, they lie, deceive..." He stopped a second to take a steadying breath. "That's why so many of us are just not willing to go there. Because two born wolves together, in all aspects, there's no reason it wouldn't last a lifetime. That's why the term "mate" is used sometimes. So to answer your question, no, she was not my mate, nor did I want to see her as such."

  
  


When he finally turned his head and laid eyes on Stiles, he hadn't moved an inch, barely breathing.

"Sorry if that's too much for you." Derek added in a murmur. "I'd rather you know the truth."

Stiles just breathed, his mouth hanging open, tongue licking his lips, Derek’s eyes drawn to the movement for a split-second.

"Would you be willing ?" Stiles asked, whisper quiet in the night air. "Would you be ready to go there again ? With a human ?"

Derek closed his eyes a long moment and inhaled deep the scent of grass and moonlight mixed with Stiles' nerves. "I'm here, aren't I ?"

Stiles started breathing loudly, hard and fast. "Sorry" he breathed. "I don't know what my heart is doing."

"Skyrocketing." Derek said, looking straight into the soft brown eyes in front of him, his fingers blindly finding Stiles' hand.

  
  


Stiles' tongue darted out to lick his lips again. Derek's heart skipped a beat as he realized Stiles' fingers intertwined with his.

"I'm not a fan of doing things halfway either... it's just a waste of energy, you know, leaving things unfulfilled, that's not great when you have anxiety. I guess I'd rather give my whole heart too..."

  
  


Derek came in Stiles' space then, awfully slowly, leaning closer pulled in by Stiles' parted lips. He kissed him delicately before leaning out just as slow. Stiles' eyes fluttered open, his face split in a large grin. And yes, that smile was blinding. Derek barely had the time to marvel at how beautiful Stiles was, he was being pulled back in for a kiss. Stiles' tongue inviting itself in Derek's mouth. There was a whimper, Derek wasn't sure who was responsible for that sound. Stiles' hand grabbed the forearm Derek used to support his weight. Derek didn't want to move at all but he forced himself to pull away.

"God, you feel so right." Stiles breathed out at the same time as Derek said "We're on the side of the road."

"Right" Stiles chuckled with a cheeky smile. "We should probably move before someone arrests us for public indecency. That would not look good for the town doctor."

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


The Hale pack somehow grew bigger.

Talia had a smug look on her face the whole time of the August 11th picnic she organized every year in a clearing of the preserve in celebration of son and daughter day. She had started that tradition when Laura, her first born, had turned one year old and it only grew more ostentatious with every new Hale.

This year was the biggest it had ever been. Sofia and Rosie playing hide and seek under the different tables. Scott and his wife Allison helping Derek's dad with the grill.

Talia on the other side of the clearing, just staring at her only son with the self-satisfied glint in her eyes, clearly listening in as Stiles was babbling sweet nonsense in Derek's ear, smiling and snuggling up next to him, hand on Derek's waist.

Derek would never live this down.

  
  


*-*-*

  
  


Sofia never cried at the doctor's again.

  
  


FIN

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed the story, consider leaving a kudo/comment.  
> Find me on [tumblr](https://fairydustedtheory.tumblr.com/tagged/plot%20twist%20:%20i%20write)


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